I've read two memoirs in the last week or so (this one and this one). They have me thinking about the power of writing down our stories (even if we don't want to publish them). Not so we can MAKE something happen, necessarily. More that life goes a little better when we remember.One of the unexpected benefits of writing He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not and A Maze of Grace is that they remind me of how uniquely (and bizarrely!) my life has unfolded. These stories are real. They lay out the details of all these unexpected collisions between me & God, and how synching up with him has kept things moving along at a rather breathtaking pace ever since. And because I wrote it all down, I have no business whining, "Waaaa...God must have lost my file!" (although, of course, I do). Skimming a few of those pages, I'm forced to concede that life looks very different in the big, aerial view than it does in the narrow bit of each day that I see.
And these pages protect me against the false-security of a 10 year plan, because really: who could have planned any of this?
My point? YOU should write things down, too! Even if you think your life is dull right now, I'll go out on a limb and say: It might be dull, but it's meaningful. Things that seem unimportant now might be key aspects later to a mystery you'll want to unfold, or a progression so subtle you didn't even see it happening.
Do you keep a journal?
2 comments:
Too funny - two weeks ago I decided to start writing in a journal again and although I did not write once last week before dropping into bed at 11:00 PM, I am going to try harder this week. You're so right that even through the trying times, it is helpful to write it down, get it out and then look back in a few years and thank God for how things change!
I've had that happen! I'll decide to go back to keeping a journal, and then weeks pass before I write a word on the page. I do better in the morning than at night, but really--any captured moment counts :)
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